Ghostbusters: The Video Game Prototype and Development
This article is about the production, prototypes and overall developments of Ghostbusters: The Video Game before its release. Sony was looking for a developer of their own to create a Ghostbusters game. Sony Pictures Consumer Products executives Mark Caplan and Keith Hargrove felt that the time was ripe for a Ghostbusters revival, and wanted to wrap it around a centerpiece game. Sony also had to make sure all IP holders (Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Sony Pictures) were on board.IGN Developer Blog "It Begins" by Drew Haworth Terminal Reality Creative Director 1/23/09 Vivendi Universal's Executive Producer John Melchior wanted to work on a Ghostbusters game after work on Fox properties like "Simpsons Hit and Run." He went through two greenlights internally with Vivendi's CFO, head of Marketing, and CEO, Bruce Hack. The project was turned down twice. Melchior and co. tried again and used a filibuster strategy and talked non-stop for 45 minutes answering their own questions. Hack finally offered $800,000 months and four months to stop.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 2:38-3:06 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Uh, no. They said no. So we, uh, went through two greenlights, uh, internally with the CFO, head of Marketing, and the CEO. And then we were declined twice. And the last time we went in there, uh, we...at the time we filibustered it, we didn't stop talking and answering our own questions before they said no. Uh, for about 45 minutes and then the CEO, uh, Bruce Hack, er he said, If we give you $800,000 and four months to prove...will you shut up?" Melchior started meeting with Sony's Caplan.Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 Due to internal politics at the time, Caplan would not help connecting the team to the original cast.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 5:33-5:49 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Uh, we had a fallback plan to use current actors of the time that were in comedy movies but htey were always the goal so we went to Sony. Mark Caplan was here at the time -- so we said, "Will you help us connect to Dan and Harold to start with and Ernie?" And he said no." In 2006, Terminal Reality's project, "Demonik," for small publisher Majesco had fallen apart because of the publisher's financial problems. Terminal had a new Studio Director, John O’Keefe. The team made use of its physics engine to make a first person shooter inspired by teamwork mechanics seen in "Call of Duty" and "Battlefield."Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 In January 2006, a party from Terminal Reality, consisting of Mark Randel (President & Chief Technologist), Brendan Goss (Executive Producer), John O'Keefe (Studio Director), and Drew Haworth (Creative Director), visited Vivendi Entertainment as part of a tour to show off their Infernal Engine next-gen technology demo and an original game intellectual property. Vivendi Executive Producers John Melchior and Pete Wanat watched the demo, asked some questions, then went outside to discuss privately. Melchior and Wanat returned and revealed Vivendi was working on a movie license intellectual property that wasn't tied to an upcoming movie release, Ghostbusters. Vivendi Universal took on the project with developer Terminal Reality.IGN Developer Blog "It Begins" by Drew Haworth Terminal Reality Creative Director 1/23/09 John O'Keefe and his team agreed. Work started in Fall 2006.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 1:24-1:28 10/4/19 Panelist says: "It started on a fall day in 2006." $1 million was devoted to creating a prototype demo to show to Sony and the Ghostbusters creative team and get clearance. The demo was named "13th Floor" and was done in three weeks. It recreated the Alhambra Ballroom scene in the first movie.Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 The initial demo was created in the style of Resident Evil game play. The player had to track Slimer with a P.K.E. Meter. Slimer would zoom past, a woman would scream, and Slimer would reappear with a towel on. The demo didn't test well because people wanted to shoot.Cross the Streams Episode 38 8:15-13:20 Even though the prototype proved successful, a new head of development came in and tried to kill the game since there was no movie coming out. Melchior and the team called up headquarters in France and the game was revived.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 15:06-15:26 10/4/19 Panelist says: "After the prototype was successful, production brought in... a new head of development, I think I was passing out, who didn't... again, it's the same story. There's no movie. No good products. There's no reason for this. Uh, so, they killed it. We called France. We complained. They brought it back. And then we had a new..." Terminal began working on the first build but were not allowed to talk about the game at all until October 2008. Development on the game was kept secret. The majority of 2006 was spent doing preliminary art, the green light build to get the go-ahead from Sony, Vivendi, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis, and trying to figure out how to market the game to children.Cross the Streams Episode 29 5:06-10:47"Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Ryan French Interview" (ts. 6:08-7:00) Ryan says: "As far as I'm concerned there's about four people who really made this game happen. Um the executive producers who originally got this game started were Pete Wanat and John Melchior. They had the idea and tossed it around here at Sierra for a long time. And the idea built momentum and they got a developer interested and we got a really great ah game demo from Terminal Reality and we showed it to the top brass here at Sierra and they got behind it. So then we showed it to Mark Caplan over.. and Keith Hargrove over at Sony and Mark and Keith liked it. And they in turn got everyone at Sony excited. Then with their blessing we showed it to Dan Akyroyd. And that was really the tipping point because Dan Aykroyd got so behind it he in turn got the rest of the cast involved." Vivendi's CEO told Melchior he had two weeks and as many plane tickets to get the game greenlight. Melchior took a flight to Chicago and spoke with Ramis. Ramis was somewhat reluctant at first but once he was sure that it was not going be a cheaply made game, then Melchior went to see Aykroyd. Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 6:05-6:15 10/4/19 Panelist says: "So the first thing I did was fly to Chicago, uh, to talk to Harold and convince him. Then he was somewhat reluctant to do it, uh, until we talked to Dan. And then he was interested enough for us to approach Dan." Melchior met with Dan Aykroyd at the House of Blues. He was walked through the pitch and shown concept art, some by Grant Gosler. Dan Aykroyd was shown a demo of Slimer being captured in the hotel ballroom. Aykroyd immediately was interested and in. He brought Harold Ramis in to the process. Ramis was daunted by the nature of a video game script which needed to account for all possible player actions. The meeting ended on a good note. Ramis talked to Aykroyd then he was in. Melchior and the team went to the set of "The Office" and after some waiting, showed Ramis the demo during a break from directing an episode.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 6:29-6:37 10/4/19 Panelist says: "And then we went to The Office, uh, the set of The Office where Harold was directing an episode and we sat in the waiting room of The Office and we showed him the demo." Ernie Hudson joined shortly after. There was some debate about revisiting the Peter and Dana relationship post Ghostbusters II but it was ultimately removed. Sigourney Weaver was never contacted. Alyssa Milano was brought in. Rick Moranis respectfully declined to reprise his role as Louis Tully. Melchior attempted to contact Bill Murray. He called Murray's infamous phone number and left a message. He didn't hear anything in nine months.Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 202-203. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Mark Randel says: "Dan Aykroyd was looking for ways to get Ghostbusters III made. We showed the demo of capturing Slimer in the ballroom to Dan, and he brought Harold in."Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 The Rookie character was the center of a massive internal fight between Terminal and Vivendi and later Atari. The belief was that players should play as the cast but Terminal fought for the Rookie on the basis that fans would want the original Ghostbusters to have the same chemistry as in the movies and playing as them would upset the timing.Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "The rookie (new recruit) was a massive fight internally at Vivendi and then even with Atari. They really wanted to "play as the cast." This was something I really fought for and eventually won. The reason why was simple. I felt people wanted the characters to have the same chemistry as they did in the films. A pillar of this was timing. So, by playing a character that had no lines, we were able to craft that timing." In the green light build, there were levels with Ecto-1 and Marine Ecto-8 driving around.Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "The boat was something that Dan wanted. He always wanted a GB boat in the movies and really felt the game was the perfect place to introduce it. It was a great part of the story. We had early prototypes of driving the Ecto-1 and the boat but they did not end up in the game." One of the Terminal teams had worked on Spy Hunter and a racing level was explored. The team mocked out a three to four minute sequence. The Rookie was strapped outside and would shoot at ghosts. Control of Ecto-1 was limited to turning left or right. The level played like a long cinematic. At some point, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man would vanish from sight then reappear in front of Ecto-1. In a quick time event, Ecto-1 would swerve into a mall and exit at some point with Stay Puft walked toward Ecto-1 and tossing objects. Rookie had to either shoot the objects or wrangle them back at Stay Puft. The level was ultimately scrapped for time because 5 months of work for 2 minutes of gameplay didn't make sense.Cross the Streams Episode 38 23:24-26:04 A level that was fought for but never approved was a Halloween level that took place in upstate New York at a rave. The Ghostbusters had to use their Ecto Goggles and P.K.E. Meters to find the ghosts and discreetly trap them without causing a panic. Initially during the build, there were two P.K.E. Meters - the movie and The Real Ghostbusters version along with the Stasis Mine, modeled after the Extreme Ghostbusters Trap. As the UI team came in, they altered the movie version to be a certain width in-game.Cross the Streams Episode 38 26:07-27:27 Internally, the development team modeled a playable character since no was signed. The crew just picked someone in the office for easy reference. Eric Schatz, a Terminal Reality level designer, was chosen.Cross the Streams Episode 29 16:29-21:30, 43:44-45:25, 48:02-50:22 "Welcome to the Hotel Sedgewick" was the focal point of pre-production. The team believed if they could successfully re-create the ballroom scene, they would have the players' trust for the rest of the game.Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "First and foremost, we wanted to take players back to the Sedgewick Hotel. This iconic location from the film is a fan favorite. We wanted to re-create the ballroom scene, in part to gain the player's trust. We felt strongly that if we can nail the look, feel, destruction, and rod-and-reel aspect of the game, we would have their trust for the rest of the game. That level was the focal point of our pre-production." Ghostbusters entered full production with $20 million budgeted. Sony refused to let the title be "Ghostbusters III" in contrast to the team, Aykroyd, and Ramis.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 15:52-16:00 10/4/19 Panelist says: "We pushed this to be Ghostbusters III. From day one, we wanted the cover to be the "III" and Dan and Harold were like "Yeah!" and then Sony's like "No." Ha ha." Arrangements to use Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" song were negotiated over the three years of production and cost $80,000. Parker was very particular about getting the details of how the song would be used.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 38:02-38:05 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Getting the rights to that song took all three years."Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 38:20-38:32 10/4/19 Panelist says: "But like he -- he was like really, "What's it going to be used for? If it's in a commercial, I want this much." He wouldn't just grant us the license. We -- everybody had to work hard to get that to work." Within months, in January 2007, coincidentally, Zootfly tried to get Sony to green light their Ghostbusters game. Sony declined and Zootfly, without permission and license, released the demo on January 10, 2007. No one at Vivendi/Universal or Terminal knew what was going on. Due to the nature of the industry, they kept silent about working on a Ghostbusters game. Vivendi scrambled to figure things out but news of Zootfly's demo already hit the Internet. In the end, after a day and a half or so, Sony sent Zootfly a cease-and-desist letter and quickly had them take the demo down.Cross the Streams Episode 38 13:22-15:40 Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 Ultimately, ZootFly will be instead developing a similar game named TimeO based on their Ghostbusters prototype. Zootfly inadvertently helped Terminal Reality sell the concept around the time of their own green-light meeting. Vivendi executives saw the reaction from the fans and were convinced Ghostbusters was going to be a big hit. At the time, Terminal was seven months into their build. ars technica "The birth, death, and rebirth of the Ghostbusters game" page 1 1/19/09 By 2007, the teams were using top of the line quad core computers and later in 2009, experimental hardware like top video cards or a 4k monitor from Dell.Cross the Streams Episode 38 27:28-29:50 The development team decided to create a custom characterization for the Rookie. Players would be able to choose features like ethnicity and hair. However, once the team learned the cinematics would be pre-rendered, the customization had to be dropped and one look had to be chosen. For a short time, John Belushi was considered for the face of the Rookie but it was decided it would have been too much of a distraction.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 38:40-38:50 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Then for a short period of time, it was going to be John Belushi. Because John Belushi was supposed to be in the original Ghostbusters movie. Passed away. So we thought -- we went to his estate. Have him be the playable character. But we thought it would be too much of a distraction." Attempts were made to get permission from the John Candy estate but there was too much legal issues. The team next thought of using the Rookie to bridge the game to the next movie so actors like Sarah Silverman and Andy Samberg were considered. Ultimately, another worker from Terminal was chosen - Ryan French.Cross the Streams Episode 29 53:33-56:27 At the beginning of development, the game was more in the style of a Resident Evil game. The game began to evolve as the team started working on the feel of wrangling and trapping ghosts.Glenn Gamble Weebly Portfolio Production continued along without a script. The bulk of that work fell on Creative Director Drew Haworth. Treatments from a dozen writers were considered. There was a Thanksgiving Day parade sequence with a possessed float that was inspired by Spongebob Squarepants. Another concept depicted the Ghostbusters in China. Another pre-formed idea was how the Ghostbusters were caught between two warring gods and New York City was caught in the crossfire. The first draft came in early 2007. The story was set in 1991 in part to preserve the spirit of the movies' technology and to avoid modern technology which was felt would bog down the script. There was some debate if the player would play as the Ghostbusters or alongside them. Comedy beats and who would say what lines were considered. They started with a rookie. Some ideas about sequels and expansions began.Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 In early script drafts, Terminal focused a lot more on the idea of new Ghostbusters franchise start-ups as a natural evolution of the Ghostbusters' business model and introducing new characters. But as the story developed and with an edict from Sony, the story shifted to focus on the original Ghostbusters and completed a trilogy in New York which would also lend to expanding on what the movies established and leaving the door open for the passing of the torch to be picked up in a third movie. Harold Ramis pointed out there had to be a romantic interest. A new character named Ilyssa Shepard was created.IGN Developer Blog "The Storyline and Characters" by Drew Haworth Creative Director Terminal Reality 5/12/09 Aykroyd and Ramis provided structure and ideas for the plot as the team continued working on the story and expanding on concepts from the bible, written around the time of the first movie.Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 203. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Mark Randel says: "Dan and Harold were involved from the start. They gave structure and ideas for the plotline and had a small team to figure out the gags and other fun things we could do. Harold and Dan had the final say to make sure it fit within the Ghostbusters universe."''Wallace, Daniel (2015). ''Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 203. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Dan Aykroyd says: "It was a great piece of writing because the team really got it. They understood what the bible was and who the characters were. They followed the rules and even expanded on the concepts. Harold and I wrote for it, but they came up with the story. It's always great to get new creative voices, because once we turned the designs over to the teams, they came up with beautiful executions - the way the Ectomobile looked, the way the packs looked, the whole thing." The team was told if they wanted to use the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, he need to have to be in the "Panic in Times Square" level.Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "We wanted to bring back Stay Puft, and we were told that in order to do that we'd really need to put him in Time Square. So, we crafted an introduction that put him in familiar territory at first, but led to a boss combat sequence that was narrower and more focused for the players than a space that wide open." During a debate about the Natural History Museum level, John Melchior called up Harold Ramis for advice. At the time, Ramis was on the set of The Office directing an episode.Playstation Blog "Inside the Development of Ghostbusters: The Video Game" 10/2/19 John Melchior says: "One time, there was a debate about the museum location. I called Harold, who was on the set of The Office directing an episode, and he called me back from his break to weigh in and provide guidance about what would best fit the world. Dan was also always there. He would regularly see the game and review the levels we were creating to see how they played into the canon of their creation." In an interview on a television show, Ghostbusters creator Dan Aykroyd confirmed that the game is essentially Ghostbusters III. The previously mentioned "Ghostbusters In Hell" plotline often associated with a third movie is not being used for the game, although Aykroyd previously announced the possibility of a computer-generated film based on that script. However, Aykroyd also claimed this game will feature elements of that script while being treated as a computer-generated film. Texas based Redfly Studios was approached to create a version for the Nintendo Wii, although they were currently under way with another Wii project called "Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars", They knew it was too great an opportunity to pass on. Once having accepted the task, Redfly decided that doing a direct port of Terminal Reality's version would be infeasible due to the relative lack of processing power of the Wii. Instead they chose to create a new game from the ground up using a more stylized cartoon aesthetic. The game itself however will share the same story, plot points, music and voice acting as the version being developed by Terminal Reality. A Wii multiplayer was worked on that pitted ghost vs. humans. The premise was modeled on the vs. mode in the "Left For Dead" game. Slimer could go in and out of walls and slime humans as they tried to trap him. Slimer had fish-eye vision and things moved faster than him, making sliming a more difficult task. The multiplayer took place in a pre-alpha hotel level. The multiplayer was dropped due to time constraints.Cross the Streams Episode 38 4:18-7:00 Vivendi executives, namely a new Chief of Creative, didn't like the $20 million cost. The budget was slashed between 25% and 40% down a third and Terminal was told to work on all versions of the game. The aim was to make $9.99 game. Melchior was livid. A Creative Director at Vivendi thought the game was a bad idea if they weren't getting Murray. Melchior met with the executives. Four hours of arguing went on. Aykroyd joined the discussion over the phone and defended the game's potential. After about two months of discussions, Aykroyd and Ramis threatened to walk.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 15:31-15:46 10/4/19 Panelist says: "So like then they brought in a new Chief of Creative who wanted to cut the budget by a third and make it a $9.99 game and put it out. So we had to deal with that for a good two months and then that's when Dan -- Dan and Harold went to bat for us. Yeah, basically they said we're out if you do that." Terminal's budget was restored and other studios continued on their versions of the game. Haworth came up with a plan B to get Bill Murray to join: Brian Doyle-Murray. David Margulies was set to reprise his mayoral role from the movies but his contract was terminated. Doyle-Murray was hired to play the mayor. He was brought in to look at the game and his character. Doyle-Murray was skeptical they did this for all the actors. Terminal created a likeness of him. They talked to him about the game. He asked about his brother. Doyle-Murray liked the game. At the end of the meeting, he realized they wanted to tell Murray he thought the game was good. Melchior admitted to the ulterior motives. Doyle-Murray revealed he was going to being seeing Murray in half an hour anyway. One to two days, Bill Murray's attorney contacted Vivendi with news he agreed to reprise his role as long as his brother was involved. There was a 'dogpile of producers' in the hallway when the call came.Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 11:17-11:28 10/4/19 Panelist says: "And he said I'm going see him in half an hour. So the next morning we got a call from our legal department saying Bill was in. Um, as long as his brother was in, he would do it. Support it." It was fortuitous because they were weeks before being forced to stop funding the game and continued past the halfway point of development.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 11:34-11:40 10/4/19 Panelist says: "We were down to weeks before we would have to not continue funding the game and we were halfway through development of the game." Murray really pushed the team to get Rick Moranis. Murray even directly called up Moranis.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 12:11-12:14 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Bill really pushed for us to get him. He called directly, too." In November 2007, Game Informer magazine revealed its December cover, which sported the Ghostbusters logo, announcing a "world exclusive premiere" of the game. The first actual gameplay video (taken from the Xbox 360 build) was shown on G4TV's X-Play, featuring a level where the player (partnered with Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz) chases Slimer around the Sedgewick Hotel. Other characters who have been confirmed to appear in the game in the magazine from the first film are the librarian ghost and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and from the second film, Vigo and the Scoleri Brothers. On November 16, 2007, Vivendi issued a press release formally announcing Ghostbusters: The Video Game as a joint venture between Sierra Entertainment, a global division of Vivendi, and Sony Pictures Consumer Products and it was being developed by Terminal Reality. It was revealed some of the original cast was returning - Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and in supporting roles were Annie Potts, Brian Doyle Murray and William Atherton. The press also hinted players would take on the role of a new recruit. The release date was set for Fall 2008.Spook Central Article Sierra Press Release 11/16/07 On May 9, 2008, Spike TV aired an episode of GameTrailers featuring a story on the game. They confirmed features such as the Slime Tether device and an appearance by Gozer. Due to 'personal issues,' Murray did not go to the first recording session in South Carolina. They rescheduled for a session in New York. Over a weekend on July 2 and 3, 2008, Bill Murray's recordings were delivered. On a Saturday, around 6-7 am, Murray arrived. They recorded lines, took a lot of breaks, Melchior kept him engaged by talking baseball, then said he could record the rest on Sunday. Melchior and associate producer Ben Borth hardly slept. Fortunately, Murray came for the second recording. He only finished half of his scripted 750-800 lines. On the flight from New York to Los Angeles, Melchior called Haworth and the script was revised. Aykroyd, Hudson, and Ramis returned to the recording booths for 7-8 hours for free to fill in for the lines Murray didn't record.Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 Around the time of Murray's recordings, Melchior and Haworth took a break from arguing about levels and played Burnout on XBox 360. Haworth got an idea to incorporate a meter showing how much property damage the Ghostbusters were causing.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 47:37-48:00 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Uh, that was the Creative Director at Terminal Reality, Drew Haworth. We were having -- I was busy having a bad day with Bill, uh, so... we had a fight over levels so we decided to take a break and we were playing Burnout on 360. And we were -- he saw the piling up of it and that's why Peck's character became deeper at that point." Around that time, the Terminal crew pushed for an extra six months of development. They devised a list explaining what they could do with the extra time - the cinematics were awful, the lighting was bad, the second hotel level looked like the first but mostly the game had to be polished. They added the underwater section in the first hotel level, added spiderwebs and stacks in the second hotel level.Fantastic Fest Day 8/September 25, 2008, Bill Murray 5:15-6:53 Bill Murray says "We did the video game this summer"GB Fans skankerzero post 5/29/13Cross the Streams Episode 38 19:40-23:19 Cross the Streams Episode 29 42:16-43:43 When word Vivendi was being merged around late 2007/early 2008, the team was reaching the alpha stage.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 13:39-13:47 10/4/19 Panelist says: "... 2007. Late 2007. Early 2008. As we were approaching Alpha, the team was working hard." By that time, Aykroyd checked in with Melchior every other week and Ramis was sending emails daily.Spook Central "Ghostbusters Fan Fest - Ghostbusters: The Video Game Panel" 18:32-18:38 10/4/19 Panelist says: "Uh, Dan every other week. Harold, daily. Harold sent an email. What do you need? What are we doing there? Um..." On July 9, 2008, the Activision/Vivendi merger occurred just after Sierra had announced that a restored Ecto-1 would be touring across the country as a part of the summer/fall Hot Import Nights shows. The game, itself, was practically completed.ars technica "The birth, death, and rebirth of the Ghostbusters game" 1/19/09 It was believed Activision was only going to keep Blizzard and Spyro. They weren't interested in the other 90% of games. The game was suddenly in jeopardy again. Melchior and co. pitched their projects to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and his executive team. They weren't interested in Ghostbusters. Aykroyd and Ramis called Melchior's wife to tell her it was going to be okay. Without a publisher, development continued in an air of uncertainty.Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 On July 15, 2008, a fact sheet was released by Sierra detailing information such as platforms, prices, rating, developers, key features, and product description.Spook Central Article Sierra Factsheet 7/15/08 On July 28, 2008 Activision Blizzard (the publisher of Vivendi's and Sierra's titles) announced that only five franchises would be released through Activision. Ghostbusters was not one of them and was put in developmental limbo following the announcement. The Sierra PR team later confirmed that the game was not and would not be canceled. There was never any worry about cancellation because of the Ghostbusters brand and Dan Aykroyd's support. At worst, the game would have been Playstation exclusive.Cross the Streams Episode 38 29:52-32:49 Sony addressed rumors and speculation and stated the game was only delayed, not canceled, and would be coming out in 2009 to coincide with the first film's 25th anniversary.ars technica "The birth, death, and rebirth of the Ghostbusters game" 1/19/09 After four months, in late 2008, Atari made an offer. Terminal accepted. Atari lacked Vivendi's resources like marketing, went through leadership changes, and operated on a very tight budget. Melchior's role changed to mainly handling talent and approvals. He lost his Executive Producer credit. In the credits, he was given a "Special Thanks."Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 In October 2008, Variety reported that Atari had purchased the rights to publish the game. Ending months of speculation, on November 7, 2008 Atari announced it would be releasing the game in June 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first film's theatrical release.Spook Central Atari Press Release 11/7/08 On March 2, 2009, Atari issued a press release for Multiplayer mode on Playstation 3 and XBox 360.Spook Central Atari Multiplayer Factsheet 3/2/09 In April 2009, it was revealed that the game in Europe would be released by Sony instead of by Atari (for PS3 and PS2) and that the others system versions would be delayed till fall. On April 20, 2009, Melchior received an email from Harold Ramis. It read, "By all accounts the game is great to play and I hope it's a big hit for everyone, and the fallout has been a keen interest in the future of a Ghostbusters sequel, so thank you for keeping the spark alive."Playboy "The Untold Story of the Ghostbusters Video Game that was Almost a Masterpiece" 7/13/16 On May 6, 2009, Atari announced the USA release date of June 16, 2009 and the European release date of June 19, 2009.Spook Central Article Atari Launch Dates 5/6/09 Ultimately, the only hindrances were licensing issues, budget, and time. Sony would reject any pitches that included use of anything from The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters. At the very last minute, Cadillac signed off and changes were quickly made to Ecto-1b. Some pitches fell through for time and budgetary reasons, such as a montage, an actual soundtrack and an ending cinematic, which was reduced to just the audio recording. A custom song was made but Sony wouldn't approve it because the band wasn't from their catalog. Louis Tully may have appeared but Rick Moranis came around at the end of development. Despite the crew having preemptively modeled Louis' head, there wasn't time to animate. The Thanksgiving level might have been finished but ultimately the crowd tech was utilized only at the beginning of the Checking Out The Library level. The game cost at least $30 million to $40 million, not counting what the voice talent was paid total, to make.Cross the Streams Episode 38 39:38-42:58Cross the Streams Episode 29 16:29-21:30Cross the Streams Episode 29 28:38-28:55, 48:02-50:22 References Category:Ghostbusters: TVG Production